But this time the OT winner, scored by Chad Kolarik with 10.8 seconds left, came on a power play after Hershey captain Boyd Kane was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by referee Trevor Hanson.

“You put yourself in that situation,” Bears head coach Mark French said. “If you think you can control what might happen from an official's standpoint, you're kind of screwed. So I think Boyd put himself in that position.”

Kane said he yelled at a linesman for impeding him, and his reputation for on-ice verbiage likely didn't help in a judgment situation where it is rare for such a call to be made in OT.

“The linesman, he was standing in the way,” Kane said. “Bru [Julien Brouillette] made a quick up pass there and I was going to get the puck and just got in the way. I just, I don't know, overreacted. It's something that shouldn't have happened.

“It's my fault. I can't put myself in that situation, give them the chance to make that call.”

Kolarik scored from the top of the left circle, earning redemption after firing wide on a breakaway attempt earlier in overtime.

“It was fun,” Kolarik said. “A couple fans behind the bench were giving it to me. I missed that breakaway about a minute earlier.

“I’m glad I can give it back to them a little bit.”

It was an intense contest between heated East Division rivals whose emotions were amplified by meeting for the 10th time this season.

Oleksy, who fought Baby Pens agitator Bobby Farnham in the first, was called for clipping the on-rushing, 6-5, 250-pound MacIntyre early in the second.

“He was too close for me to really brace myself,” Oleksy said. “Obviously, a guy like that coming full-tilt from the far blue line, you just try to do whatever you can to protect yourself in that situation.”

MacIntyre felt Oleksy was trying to go for his knees.

“You can see me coming and get out of the way, but that’s trying to take a knee out,” MacIntyre said.

“You want to get a guy pissed off? That’s how you do it. I try to play a pretty honest game. I don’t try to take liberties. I try not to cross the line and become a goon or whatever. But when something like that happens, there’s a little switch that goes off. You have to take an opportunity like that and make sure guys pay for it.”

WBS didn't score on the ensuing power play. When Oleksy emerged from the penalty box, MacIntyre took a run at him on the backwall and drew a charging minor and a second minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Kane scored on the back end of the double-minor, off a right circle one-timer, to give Hershey a 1-0 lead at 9:34.

The Bears got conservative in the third trying to nurse the one-goal edge and were outshot 14-3 (plus 3-0 in OT). Riley Holzapfel tied it 1-1 at 12:03 when he jabbed home a loose puck from a scrum in front of Hershey's net.

“I thought they were more deserving of the win today,” French said. “It's one of those things where you go in and we sit back and try to protect a one-goal lead.

“I think everybody in the building felt it wasn't the right way to getting things done and ultimately something bad will happen. It proved right.”

The Baby Pens, who staged an outsized celebration after their outdoor win, did it again after Kolarik scored.

Said Kane: “It's arrogance on their part. If that's what they're going to do after games or whatever, we'll worry about doing our job during the game, I guess.”

Said Oleksy: “It's hockey. People approach it different when you win games, lose games. You try to keep it as classy as you can. They did what they did. That's the end of it, you know. It's a heated rivalry and, obviously, they should be excited to win. It's tough to say anything more on that. They celebrated the way they did, and we play them again.”

Two games remain in the regular-season series, both scheduled for Mohegan Sun Arena (March 1 and April 7).

“You’re excited,” WBS goalie Jeff Zatkoff said. “That’s part of the game. Sometimes your emotions take over. These are big games for us coming down the stretch and this is our rival. Just happens to be that we’ve been able to win two in overtime. I’m sure it leaves a little bitter taste in their mouth.”